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Choice of an attractive and appropriate brand name is one of the most important aspects of brand identity and the foundation of marketing communication efforts (Aaker, 1991; Klink, 2000; Kotler, 1991). A useful basis of brand name selection is sound symbolism (Klink, 2000; Yorkston and Menon, 2004). Sound symbolism theory posits that people infer the meaning of a word from the smallest units of sounds (i.e. phonemes) it contains (Sapir, 1929). In the context of brand names, sound symbolism suggests that how a brand name sounds influences how consumers perceive the brand (Klink, 2000; Yorkston and Menon, 2004). Research indeed supports the relation between brand name phonemes and brand outcomes, such as greater brand recall, recognition and liking (Schloss, 1981; Vanden Bergh et al., 1984, 1987), as well as brand attribute perceptions (Yorkston and Menon, 2004) and brand name preferences (Klink, 2000, 2003).
Sound symbolism related to vowels in brand names has attracted considerable attention in the marketing literature. Research has examined the role of vowels in brand names in shaping perceptions of product attributes (Klink, 2000; Yorkston and Menon, 2004; Lowrey and Shrum, 2007), as well as in influencing brand personality perceptions in terms of sincerity, sophistication and ruggedness (Klink and Athaide, 2012). Although much of the sound symbolism literature in marketing focuses on vowels (Lowrey and Shrum, 2007), this article seeks to extend current understanding of sound symbolism effects related to consonants. Consonants play a major role in brand names creation strategies (Schloss, 1981; Vanden Bergh, 1984, 1987), yet have received limited attention in the sound symbolism literature.
This article contributes to the branding and sound symbolism literature in several ways. First, it focuses on the effect of consonants on consumers’ brand perceptions (i.e. brand gender) and brand-related outcomes such as likelihood to recommend. The current sound symbolism literature considers the impact of consonants on product attributes and brand name perceptions, yet it has not investigated whether and to what extent perceptions of the brand itself are driven by sound symbolism based on consonants. This research also examines to what extent the position of the consonant in the brand name matters in the creation of brand gender perceptions – a research question that has not been explored in prior research, despite its...